Marvin Gaye/James Jamerson - "Right On" (Bass Playalong)

Here's one of my favorite tracks by Marvin Gaye: "Right On" from "What's Going On". James is rock solid.. I'd say he's like a machine but that takes away from the amount of groove in his playing.

This is my Mexican made P-Bass (all stock) into an Avalon U5 (set flat), thru a mixer (also set flat) into my MacBook.

New transcriptions are also posted on my blog: arcellus.blogspot.com, and there is an archive of my transcriptions at www.arcellussykes.com.

I also do custom transcription work!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• James
• Jamerson
• Marvin
• Gaye
• Right
• On
• Bass
• Funk
• Soul
• Jazz
• Avalon
• Fender

[tbcass]

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Bob Babbitt play bass in this track? It doesn't sound like Jamerson's usual style and Babbit did play on some of the tracks from this album. It sounds like Babbitt to me.

[arcellus]

You're right, Bob Babbit played on two tracks - "Mercy Mercy Me" and "Inner City Blues". It's definitely Jamerson - his sound and feel is unmistakable, especially in the freer section in the middle of the tune.

"Inner City Blues" is probably my favorite track on the album, but the bass playing kills it for me. It's two bass tracks (both played by Babbit), neither of which are very strong. The way they conflict with one another ruins an otherwise fantastic tune, IMO.

[C33Four]

Great playing mate. 5 stars! You've really got the feel in perfect synch. It really helps to watch someone like you get into it that some kid reading tabs on a piece he knows really nothing on.

And I wanted to ask, you have the most interesting name ever... Arcellus. That is your first name, correct? Where did it come from?

[arcellus]

Thanks for the comment - Arcellus is an old family name, coming Denmark about 6 generations back. And yes, it's my first name.

[C33Four]

Is that Ron Burgundy on yazz flute back there?

[bassistdc]

It's not about how hard it is to play. It's about how it moves you.

[TheBaronVonVik]

Babbitt.

[MrBassinyourface]

Sorry, but you missed A LOT of aspects of this bass line. This isn't to say that you're bad, in fact---I like your style A LOT====but you transcribed the G minor 7 lick wrong----he hits that G twice on the second part of the phrase, not once. I'll be posting my version soon, and I used a program to isolate the bass----Every note is in there.

[donegod]

hey buddy do u have a finger rest der,my p bass dont have,can i ask if its ok to put my thumb on the top of the pic up,tnx

[donegod]

hey buddy do you have a finger rest in der,my p bass dont have ,is it ok if iplace my thumb on top of pick up while im playing,tnx.

[donegod]

hey buddy do you have a finger rest in der,my p bass dont have ,is it ok if iplace my thumb on top of pick up while im playing,tnx

[PhuckHue2]

great job. you got the groove.

[dante773]

Like I said im a die hard Jamerson fan and I think I could say that this is definately Babbitt playing. The strings are way tooooo treble-iee to be the funk machine. Jamerson's strings were a lot more dead and you never heard any fret noise of any kind. The only part that sounds like it could actually be JJ is when he is hitting that Bottom note consistantly (at around 2:30) the bottom E string is slightly out of tune. Otherwise from then on to the end is defenately Babbitt JJ didnt play liketha

[dante773]

@arcellus I feel the same way about Babbitt. I mean he's a good player and I would much rather know its him playing on anything rather than Carol Kaye. I am a die hard Jamerson fan. All my playing consist of his guidelines. I consider Jamerson the greatest bass player in the world. I just recently bought the deluxe edition of the album "whats goin on" I recommend it to any true jamerson fan. First time I heard Mercy Mercy me where you can actually here the bass very clear. Babbitt didnt do bad.

[Markgr122]

Absolutely Babbit!! He also played bass on Inner City Blues,Wholly Holy and Mercy Me from Whats Going On.The rest is Jamerson.

[SOUNDBOYMIKE]

@tbcass hmm i could be wrong its still a motown jam